A Lineman’s View ~ Out With The Old & In With The New

Up in the Air with my Boy, Cheezit getting this new wire pulled in and dead ended. This is the last stretch along the highway that was in desperate need of a wire upgrade and new poles. The old wire is a #4 copper, which is slightly smaller than a pencil. The new wire we are installing is 397 ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) which is about the size of a Man’s thumb.

On one end we have a 4-drum rope puller and the other end is the new wire reels. We connect the old wire to the ropes and use an old wire reel to wind up the old wire and pull in the ropes. Then we connect the ropes to the new wire and pull in that nice shiny aluminum wire.

Prior to any pulling of ropes or wire we have to go to all the poles in the middle and put the old wire in rollers. Strap the rollers to the crossarms, untie the wire from the insulator, and place the wire in the roller then the pulling begins.

Sometimes we pull in the new wire with the old but this old copper wire couldn’t be trusted to hold together. Especially when pulling in the much heavier new conductor.

I hope you enjoyed the view

~ music is from IMovie - Game Day by Pyrmds ~